


Flu Season

by godblessthefandom (Browncoat101)



Category: Frankie Drake Mysteries
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-16 09:49:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13051551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Browncoat101/pseuds/godblessthefandom
Summary: When Trudy and Frankie are stuck inside during a bout with the flu, they share a tender moment and a flight of fancy. TrudyxFrankie





	Flu Season

Trudy couldn’t quite remember who had come back from their overnight stakeout sneezing first. 

They had spent almost 11 hours in Frankie’s cramped Model T, and the crisp November air seeped through the blankets they’d studiously wrapped around themselves. They’d slept in shifts, watching the Gladstone Hotel for any hint of the cheating husband whose trail they’d followed there. But after the sun rose, and there was no sign of the philandering Mr. Moore, Frankie had decided enough was enough and driven back to the Drake Detective Agency. 

The car had been miserable, and eventually the coffee cold, and Trudy was sure she’d never warm up, and then the sneezing started. She wasn’t clear on who’d started it, but they’d both kept it up and before long their office was a cacophony of coughs and sneezes, punctuated by the occasional snore as Frankie was apt to do when she was stuffed up. 

In all their years of sleuthing together, Trudy couldn’t remember an instance when they were both sick at the same time. Usually, it was Trudy bringing in her mother’s famous chicken and ginger soup, that was capable of knocking out even the toughest of bugs. If not that, then Frankie would drive down and see her friends at the tea shop, bringing back something unbearable that she would watch carefully as Trudy swallowed, making sure she had every drop. They both tended to avoid going home when they were sick; Trudy to avoid contaminating her family, taking them all out of commission for weeks, and Frankie because there was no one at home really to take care of her. It was a perfectly reasonable arrangement, except when it came to them both being sick, an idea that apparently hadn’t occurred to them before. 

And so Mary brought the soup from the Clarke household, Flo brought in little sachets of herbal tea, and Trudy and Frankie sat on opposite ends of the couch, listening to the radio, or reading, sharing a space and napping should the need strike. 

Now they were bundled up under blankets, Trudy sipping a hot tea, while Frankie droned on from one of her favorite books. 

“So, now she’s a woman?” Trudy interrupted, her voice still froggy from coughing. 

“What’s wrong with that?” Frankie shot back, indignantly. 

“Well, nothing, really, but it’s just a bit strange that a person goes to sleep a man and wakes up a woman.” 

“It doesn’t happen everyday, I’ll give you that.”

“It’s called Orlando?”

“Yep, by Virginia Woolf. She wrote a few other things I’m fond of as well.” 

Frankie flipped through the pages affectionately, and Trudy watched her carefully over the thick quilt she had tucked under her chin. 

Trudy shuffled her feet around beside Frankie’s under the blanket to get her attention. “What would you do if that happened to you?” She asked sheepishly. 

“I was turned into a man?” 

Trudy nodded.

“Well, I don’t imagine that my life would be that much different than it is now. I would have helped out with the war effort. I would have started the detective agency. I’m sure I’d be working with  you-” 

“Hmm.” Trudy interrupted. 

“What, hmm?”

“You’re a catch, Frankie. You’d be married off to some adventurous, young thing. There’s no way she’d have you gallivanting off with me for overnight surveillance sessions for who knows how long.” 

“How do you know we wouldn’t be married?”

“W-we? You mean, like you and me?”

Frankie laughed, shut the book with a clap, and placed it on the table behind her. Then she poured another cup of hot tea, and handed it to Trudy. 

“Sure! You’re absolutely my best friend in the world, Trudy, I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather spend the rest of my life with.”

Trudy wanted to blame the heat of her face on the tea that she was sipping conspicuously, but there was something else going on there. She gave a small cough, which turned into a squeak, and she coughed again. Frankie batted her eyelashes at Trudy suggestively, and Trudy gave her a soft smack. 

“As lovely as a sentiment that might be, Frankie, you are white, and I’m colored. It’d never happen.” 

“There’s no law against it! And anyway, it happens in Europe all the time.” 

“This isn’t Europe…” Trudy interrupted, but Frankie was already lost in her reverie. 

“If I woke up a man tomorrow, I’d marry you right away, Trudy. I’d ask your parent’s permission of course, and they love me, so of course they’d say yes. We’d move you into the house, and we’d start taking cases as Drake and Drake Detectives. Then, one day, we’d have a little Francis and Trudy to take over once we’re retired. We could move out to Toronto Island. Or even someplace out west and have a farm or something.” 

Trudy smiled at Frankie, who was lost in her imaginings. “You’d hate it out there, Frankie, and you know it. One week in the countryside, and you’d be losing your mind. You need the city, just as sure as you’re sitting here.” 

She took another sip of tea, and then sat her cup down. “Anyway, my parents like you the way you are, but if you came as a suitor? They already know you’re nothing but trouble. They’d chase you out with a baseball bat.”

“Well, then-” Frankie said, throwing off the quilt, and standing up quickly. “I’d have to steal you away in the night. I’d come to your window and throw rocks until you opened it, and then drive you away to get married under the stars.” 

She reached for Trudy’s hand, and whether from Frankie’s flowery words, the tea, or her general sense of fogginess caused by her cold, Trudy followed her. They were on their feet in an instant, gliding around the room. Frankie was pressed up tightly against her body, and lead her with a strong arm across her back. Trudy was only in her socks, so Frankie towered above her, and she tucked Trudy’s head under her chin. Another twirl around the room, and Trudy felt the tightness in her chest becoming more pronounced. Frankie was all around her now, her sight was filled with the dip of her throat, her nose filled with the lilac perfume she always wore, every inch of her body nearly pulsating with the touch of Frankie’s close against her own. She could feel Frankie’s breasts against her own, and she felt a tightness in her chest that was more exciting than nervous. Trudy pulled away slightly. 

“Are you okay?” Frankie squeaked, her breath in ragged, sharp notes. Her voice was tight, and there was something more there. Trudy didn’t look up to meet her eye, afraid of what she might find.

Trudy only nodded, and pulled away a few inches more. Frankie seemed like she wanted to resist, but finally let go. She padded Trudy back over to the couch, and covered her with the blanket. 

“And when you were sick, I would tuck you in, and make sure that you had everything you could possibly need. I’d put you in the softest pajamas, and read to you until you fell asleep.” 

There was something in her tone that stirred something deep in Trudy, and she finally looked up. Frankie stared back at her, a half smile on her face. The look was deeper than the story she was telling, full of longing and hope and something else that Trudy couldn’t quite place. She shuddered in spite of herself. 

“Sorry! Are you still cold? Let me warm up some more water.”

Frankie turned, but Trudy reached for her arm. “No!” She smiled bashfully and tried again. “No, I mean, I don’t want anymore tea. Maybe we can read some more of your book together? I’m a little sleepy now. You can read to me, if you want. You’re not my husband or anything, but I-I... Thank you for taking care of me, Frankie.” 

Frankie smiled, and reached for the book again. She went to position herself at the other end of the couch, but Trudy opened the blanket a little more, patting on the spot beside her. Frankie obliged, sliding underneath the cover, and shuddered herself when Trudy snuggled up beside her. 

“I-is this okay?” 

Frankie nodded quickly. “Yes, it’s fine. It’ll help us both warm up faster.” 

Trudy took that as a sign, and wrapped an arm around Frankie, snuggling even further under her chin. Frankie opened up the book, and tried to find her place, and once she had, she put her own arm around Trudy’s shoulders. 

“We should get sick together more often.” Trudy said, with a laugh. 

Frankie laughed as well, and began reading. 

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Yes, this is not Brittana, yes I am still writing Brittana, yes, the fandom for Frankie Drake is ridiculously small and yes the fandom for FrankiexTrudy fics is even smaller. I gotta do what I've gotta do.


End file.
